Bruno Ehrs and Tom Wolgers moved during the 80s in circles that were inspired by the experimental spirit of modernism and by the cosmopolitan culture of the interwar period. The duo’s first exhibition, the Stockholm exhibition in 1982 , refers to the legendary Stockholm exhibition in 1930, which launched functionalism in Sweden, and there is a strong connection between the radical ideas and expressions of the different periods. The title of their second exhibition which opened in 1987, Stockholm Suite , has a more pronounced musical reference where Tom Wolger’s contribution is a personal experience of the city.
In the portraits for the Stockholm exhibition in 1982, I chose the objects of the city as photographic background, where I was driven by the idea that the city stood as an unconscious designer of the background of the portraits. For the Stockholm suite, I wanted to depict the modern city with as much clarity and sharpness as possible. Far from romantic sentimentality, says Bruno Ehrs.
